McCoskers Wrasse finally committed suicide

Silly clownfish

Silly clownfish

New member
I had my McCoskers Wrasse for 9 months and as I feared since I got him, he finally found a way out of the tank a few weeks ago. Ihave a full glass canopy and thought I had sealed all gaps. *I found him dead on the floor behind the tank, only a few hours after I had last seen him. I believe he squeezed out the cutout in the plastic strip around the return pipe. The foam I use to block that area got a little crunched and it must have given him enough room.

Since he went in the display tank, he would regularly (at least every other day) slam into the glass canopy loudly. I have heard they sometimes paralyze themselves this way and he certainly stunned himself good a few times. He also made several jumps to the overflow until I made a barrier that closed the gap between the top of the overflow and the canopy. And twice while I was feeding he jumped out of the tank to the floor (probably a 4'drop). Since I was right there I picked him right up both times (complete with dog hair from the floor).

To be honest, tank maintenance is less stressful now because I'm not constantly watching for a jumper.

I really enjoyed this fish's colors and the constant motion in the tank. There is noticably less movement now. I just don't think I want to get another fish with such a strong death wish. Any suggestions for a fish that would play a similar role in the tank without trying to kill itself?

A long time ago I had. Cleaner wrasse (regular, not the colorful Hawaiian variety that I just saw on vacation). I had him for about 2 and a half years and don't recall him ever jumping. I understand that 2 plus years is unusual for a cleaner and that they are not recommended for aquariums, so I don't want to go that route.

My other livestock and tank specs are in my signature block. Can't get anything that will compete with my mandarin for pods.

Kim
 
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On my phone I can only see that you have a 75g in your specs (can't see your existing fish stock). Bummer on the flasher fish, I just picked up two of them and I'm loving them.
 
Yellow Clown Goby is a brightly colored, constantly moving fish. I had one for a while, and the rest of my fish were out in the open more while he was in the tank. Mine was an SPS nipper though, so he went back to the LFS. Too bad, he really was a fun fish to have in the tank.
 
Hmm, I guess signatures get cut off on phones.

I have an ocelaris clown, flame hawk, randalls goby, one spot fox face rabbitfish, and a green mandarin.

The yellow clown goby is a possibility. I do have SPS, as well as LPS and softies, but since I feed pretty heavy I have never had issues with fish described as occassional coral nippers like cherub angels (another possibility, but I had one for 2 years and another for over 7 so kinda thinking something different).
 
sorry for your loss. i lost my Carpenter's flasher the same way. i thought i had everything covered up tight, but he found the smallest of gaps to get out of.

i've been debating another one as well. i am in a different tank now, with a much tighter fitting lid, but the last thing i want is another Houdini finding a way out. i've been leaning towards some other types of wrasse, but the flashers just have such a wonderful personality.

he would actually splash me with water using his tail if i was standing by the tank but not feeding him to get my attention. awesome little guy.
 
they can take off like a surface to air missile.

i had a six line wrasse jump on me once while trying to net him out of a QT tank. luckily he landed in the bucket i was going to put him in anyways. which, at the time, was 3 - 4 feet away.
 
MondoBongo said:
they can take off like a surface to air missile.

i had a six line wrasse jump on me once while trying to net him out of a QT tank. luckily he landed in the bucket i was going to put him in anyways. which, at the time, was 3 - 4 feet away.
Click to expand...

Oh wow. I am wanting one. I have a canopy so i was thinking of just building a 3-4 inch fence like structure using egg crate around the rim of the aquarium. If they can jump that high and far that will obviously not work.
 
The McCoskers I just lost jumped on me the first time during TTM, he bounced half way across the desk I use for one of my QT. almost nightly he would hit the glass canopy on my tank, sometimes hard enough that that canopy moved. The only openning in the canopy is where I cut the back plastic strip for my return pipe and I have a piece of foam to fill the gap (lost my fist flame hawk through a similar openning and thought I learned a lesson). The foam got a little smooshed the last time I had the canopy of and I missed that there was a roughly 1/4" by 1" gap. The other possibilty would be that he found his way into the overflow again, then into the emegency drain and jumped out of the sump. He was behind the tank and my cabinet has an open back.

This particular fish always had a strong drive to get out of the tank.
 
My McCosker died completely randomly after about 6 months. I had a mesh top covering every square inch of the tank, so there was no escape. He was a strong eater, very active and healthy. One night he was looking great, then a couple hours later he was laying on his side gasping for breath. He died about an hour later.

I never saw him jump at the mesh, but I'm guessing he jumped right into the aluminum frame of my mesh top and knocked himself to death. I don't plan to get another until I set up a drilled tank with a sump and can seal the top up tight, but then the 125 in my garage still has cross braces that they could kill themselves on. ugh
 
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